ARMENIAN COLONIES OF SMYRNA AND THE COAST OF THE AEGEAN SEA (16th - first half of the 19th century)
Yerevan: Gitutyun, 2022, 534 p.
The Armenian communities in Smyrna and western Asia Minor emerged in the VI-VII centuries are among the oldest ones of the Armenian communities. Their history which dates back to Byzantine period lasted in the following centuries.
The communities of Smyrna, Aydin, Manisa, Eodemish, Kesab, Akhisar, Gnk, Bergama, Krkaghach, Denizli, Nazili, etc., survived until September 1922 and as the last act of the Armenian Genocide in Ottoman Turkey were destroyed by the Kemalists who invaded the region.
The community of Smyrna in particular has made a tremendous contribution to the development of Armenian culture (preservation of national church traditions, typography, pedagogy, periodical press, translation of literature, development of modern philosophical thought, etc.).
